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Correction: On The Money-Energy Investing story

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Modified: August 4, 2014 at 9:56 am •
Published: August 4, 2014

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NEW YORK (AP) — In a story July 30 about investing in yieldcos, The Associated Press reported erroneously that NRG Yield owned a coal-fired power plant in Delaware. That plant has been converted to burn natural gas.

The story also said that NRG Yield hopes to increase its dividend by 10 percent to 15 percent per year over the next five years. NRG Yield recently updated its target to 15 percent to 18 percent.

A corrected version of the story is below:

How to fit a wind farm into your portfolio

REITs for renewables: Wind, solar farms are being put into new companies called yieldcos

By JONATHAN FAHEY

AP Energy Writer

NEW YORK (AP) — You can now fit a wind or solar farm into your portfolio, even if your portfolio isn't exactly vast.

Energy companies are wrapping renewable energy projects and other power-related assets that generate steady cash into new companies they hope attract investors hunting for dividends.

In an unfortunate victory for corporate speak, they are called yieldcos. They're the electric power industry's answer to real estate investment trusts, which distribute rental income to investors, and master limited partnerships, which distribute income from oil and gas pipelines to investors.

Yieldcos aim to distribute most of the proceeds from generating or delivering electricity to shareholders through a steady stream of dividends. They try to grow the dividend by buying more power projects.

Analysts say they are a relatively safe way to invest in renewable energy — much safer, for example, than buying shares in notoriously volatile solar panel makers. Warren Buffet agrees. He's invested $15 billion in the same type of wind and solar projects that yieldcos own, and he plans to double that amount.

But analysts caution there are risks for yieldco investors because their popularity has inflated share prices and the concept is so new.

"They are new types of companies, so we have very little visibility into what they might evolve into in the future," says Mihoko Manabe, an analyst at the credit rating agency Moody's.

NRG Yield, which was created by the power producer NRG Energy, went public last July at $22 a share and is now trading at $54. Next Era Energy Partners, which was created by the electric utility Next Era Energy, went public this month at $25 and is now trading near $35. TerraForm Power, created by SunEdison, also went public this month at $25 and now trades at $33.

These yieldcos own power plants that have entered into long-term power purchase agreements at set prices with local utilities. For example, Next Era Energy's Tuscola Bay wind farm in Michigan will sell all of its power over 20 years to DTE Energy. And assets go beyond wind or solar projects, or even ones that generate power. Abengoa Yield owns power transmission lines in Peru and Chile along with solar farms in Arizona and California. NRG Yield owns a natural gas-fired plant in Delaware.